Ranked #36

Honey and Clover II

12 episodes were not enough. I at least need 24 episodes of Honey and Clover goodness for my fill. Honey and Clover was just easy and fun to watch, and it was the same for the second season.

As for the drawing style, main plot and voice acting, not much has changed so I’ll only focus on the things that have changed.

The main plot hasn’t changed – it’s still a “coming of age” story for all of the characters, but for this season, the focus has shifted from Takemoto and Yamada’s individual stories to Hagu and Morita. Sure we still get to see the Takemoto’s struggles with his youth and Yamada’s sad love story, but this time, we learn more about Hagu and her strong passion for what she does and what Morita has been doing up until now. Plus there have been some developments with Mayama’s relationship with Rika as well – and for a hardcore Rika hater/Yamada-Mayama fan like me, that’s kinda tough to watch.

Even though I’m glad at how it ended, I still can’t help but shed a few tears because of their parting. I wish that they could stay together and have fun forever (kind of like how I feel now since I’m graduating) but that’s how life goes – you meet new people and in the process you lose some people. I also found myself tearing up more during this season. There were just so many things that are kind of sad and bittersweet.

Generally there weren’t any changes as to drawing style, but Hagu definitely looks prettier. Back in the first season, I didn’t think she was cute or pretty until the last few episodes. Her look during the last few episodes was carried over to the new season and was made even better. CG was still used, most notable in the opening theme sequence, and was complimentary in some scenes as well.

They used some music from the first season, but I think that was only in the first 2 episodes. There was also a variety of insert songs for this season as well, which really complimented the scenes. The opening song and ending song for this season were similar to the opening and ending song of the first season, probably because they were performed by the same artists but I have to say, I like the first season’s themes better.

I’m so sad that I won’t have any more Honey and Clover now. I finally found the meaning to the line “Good things must come to an end”, and I found another favorite to add to my list. read more

Title: Honey and Clover II

Anime: Honey and Clover II was once again produced by JC Staff (famous for their work on Revolutionary Girl Utena and Excel Saga), and directed by Tatsuyuki Nagain (famous for his work on My-HiME and iDOLM@STER XENOGLOSSIA) this time around. It aired on Japanese TV from June 29th to September 14th, 2006. It has yet to be licensed Stateside.

Story: Honey and Clover II picks up where Honey and Clover left off, and finishes up the remaining manga material.

I like this follow-up. It answers questions it left unanswered last season, and resolves all the relationships that were left hanging at the end of last season. And there are some absolutely heart-breaking scenes in here.

Something just seems to be missing here, though. I just can't really put my finger on it. I think it has something to do with the mood -- it seems less centered around the realism than it was last season. Not that it's not realistic, because it still is, but... I don't know how to explain it.

It's good and all, but it's just not the same as it was last season. Probably comes with the director change.

Art: Just as beautiful as it was last season, though it seems that they used brighter colors than they did last season than some of the more muted colors that they tended to use.

Music: There's another piano version of either the OP or ED that plays a lot and is really beautiful. Background music is about the same as last season.

The insert music is still done by the same artists, from what I can hear, and still appropriately fitting.

The OP is still done by the same wailing banshee lady, but the animation for it is pretty neat again. The ED's not all that remarkable, again, but I can live with it.

Seiyuu: All the same actors as last season, except for the twelfth and final episode, where Kenji Nojima replaces Hiroshi Kamiya as Takemoto's VA, due to an accident that the latter had that rendered him unable to record the episode; Nojima does a pretty good job of staying as close to Kamiya's performance as possible, but you can tell that it's not Kamiya. Good performances though, as always.

Length: Twelve episodes was the perfect length to take care of everything they left untouched last season, I think. Any longer, and it would've started to drag a bit.

Overall: A good follow-up to last season, but it's just not the same. If you want to find out how everything eventually resolves, then definitely watch it. Just be aware that it might not be quite the same impact as the first season made on you.

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 9/10
Length: 9/10

Overall: 45/50 (90%, B+) read more